Moving up to secondary, middle or upper school in September 2024

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead delivers its school admissions service through Achieving for Children, a community interest company set up in partnership with the Royal Borough of Kingston and the London Borough of Richmond.

The Schools Admissions and Child Employment Team operates a call back service only. Priority will be given to calls where the information is not available on the website or in the Admissions Guides. Please be advised that the phone number included below and in our guides is for the RBWM Contact Centre, not the Schools Admissions Team themselves. The Contact Centre answers a range of queries, but for more complex queries, please email the team on rbwm.admissions@achievingforchildren.org.uk

Please view all guides and policies in relation to the admissions process.

September 2024 Applications - Important information

All parents please read before continuing

We have been made aware of a new issue when parents are applying. Currently, parents are unable to move past the moving house page. Capita, who own the application software are aware and are working on a fix. In the meantime, a work around has been communicated to all RBWM schools to relay to their parents so they can continue with their applications. This message will be removed once the issue is fixed. (Monday 11 September 2023).

September Entry

This covers those children born between September and August annually. Secondary School Admissions are for those pupils starting at Middle, Secondary or Upper schools. This is known as Secondary Phase Entry in admissions terminology.

What is the difference between the different schools for Secondary education?

You will see a range of school types when looking at secondary school education for your child. Each type of school covers a different age range:

Secondary schools - Catering for pupils from Year 7 to Year 13, or ages 11+. These schools are found all over RBWM. After Year 11, some pupils may move to a college, UTC, Studio school, or another 6th Form provision.

Middle schools - Catering for pupils from Year 5 to Year 8, or ages 9-13. These schools are found in Windsor. After Year 8, pupils tend to move from middle schools to upper schools.

Upper schools - Catering for pupils from Year 9 to Year 13, or ages 13+. These schools are found in Windsor. After Year 11, some pupils may move to a college, UTC, Studio school, or another 6th Form provision.

UTCs and Studio schools - Catering for pupils from Year 10 to Year 13. These schools are found outside RBWM, but within commutable distance. These schools are training centres for specific areas such as Engineering, Business, Arts Management, or Tourism, Aviation, Construction, E-Sports or Digital Media, to name but a few. They offer the same qualifications as secondary schools, with the added bonus of industry expertise and work-experience links.

If you attempt to put a school on your phase entry application that does not receive pupils in that year group, your preference is invalid and will be discarded. For example, if you are applying for middle schools, but place a primary school on the application as well, this primary preference will be discarded. This is because primary schools do not accept phase transfer applications for Year 5 entry - you would need to make an In-Year Transfer request instead.

Similarly, if you wish to apply for a middle school in Year 7 alongside secondary schools, the middle school application will be a separate form, submitted through the individual middle schools directly - you cannot apply on the same form as you would for a secondary school, as they are different phases of entry. Your Year 7 application for secondary schools would be handled by us, whereas the In-Year transfer application would be handled by the individual school.

Applications are open to submissions between September and October each year - please review the key dates below for this year's specifics.

Key Dates

Opening date - Friday 8 September 2023
Closing date - Tuesday 31 October 2023
Extended deadline for exceptional circumstances - Wednesday 15 November 2023
National Offer Date - Friday 1 March 2024
Processing of late applications begins - Monday 4 March 2024
Deadline to respond to a school place offer - Friday 15 March 2024
Deadline for late applications to be submitted to be considered in the second round - Friday 15 March 2024
Offers to late applicants and allocations from waiting lists for all applicants - From Thursday 4 April 2024.

Applications for September 2024 start

Applications for a school place must be made through your home authority - this is the council where you live and to which you pay council tax. Residents can apply for non-Royal Borough schools using this live application process. For example, parents living near the river in Maidenhead may choose to apply to schools in Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire, or Slough through the Royal Borough, without having to make a separate application to each Local Authority.

RBWM holds two main ‘rounds’ of admissions offers. The majority of offers will be made on National Offer Day, for those applications submitted on time. The second round of offers, including late applications or late changes of preference, are made from Wednesday 4 April 2024.

After the deadline for the second round, applications will then be processed in the order they are received. Please read our online Admission into Secondary School Guide before applying.

Please note: Parents must include preferences for all 6 places available on the application form, where multiple preferences exist. This is to ensure every child receives an offer of a school place in their local area. In the case of phases where less than six options exist, you should include all preferences available to you. For example, if you are applying for a middle school, you must include all four middle schools in your application, as only four middle schools exist in the local authority.

Where a parent does not include all available preferences, they will be added for you in the nearest appropriate distance order.

Parents applying for Upper schools are exempt from using all available preferences, as the only one preference will be applicable for each applicant, i.e. male applicants will be sent to The Windsor Boys’ School, and female applicants to Windsor Girls’ School.

Applying to Grammar Schools

All schools in the borough are comprehensive and meet the needs of all ability ranges. This means they do not require entrance exams as a form of entry. Grammar schools are available in neighbouring authorities. If you wish for your child to apply for a grammar school please contact the local authority where your preferred grammar school is located for information on sitting the entrance exams.

Parents must apply for their child's secondary school place before the results are received and no later than the closing date i.e. Tuesday 31 October 2023. You must apply via your home local authority. Both grammar schools and non-selective schools should be included within the six preferences allowed in an application in the event that the child does not meet the required standard for entry into a grammar school.

Apply

Please note: If you are experiencing issues registering or need a password reset please email us at rbwm.admissions@achievingforchildren.org.uk

Please ensure you read the Starting Secondary School in September 2024 guide, before submitting your application.

You can only apply for state-funded secondary schools. Any preferences for independent or special schools on your application will not be processed.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), please contact The Children and Young People Disability Service to submit your child's application.

The state-funded schools in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead which form part of this admissions process are listed in the 'Admission into Secondary School September 2024' guide - please take the time to read this guide. If you wish to apply for a place at an independent school you will need to contact the school directly to discuss the admissions process.

Applications should be made online and can be amended up until applications close at midnight on Monday 31 October 2023. Please remember to submit your application again if any changes are made.

You can access the online system on National Offer Day to view the outcome of your application and you will also receive an email to confirm the outcome.

APPLY ONLINE

Allocation information

Details about how places have been allocated over the previous three years have been published below:

Services